Three years later, they broke through commercially with “La Grange,” a funky blues song in the style of Slim Harpo’s ”Shake Your Hips” that paid tribute to the Chicken Ranch, a notorious brothel outside of the Texas town of La Grange. Their debut release, “ZZ Top’s First Album,” came out in 1970.
Hill and influenced by the British power trio Cream. They didn’t give a cause of death, but a July 21 post on the band’s website said Hill was “on a short detour back to Texas, to address a hip issue.” At that time, the band said that its longtime guitar tech, Elwood Francis, would fill in on bass, slide guitar and harmonica.īorn Joe Michael Hill in Dallas, he, Gibbons and Beard formed ZZ Top in Houston in 1969, naming themselves in part after blues singer Z.Z. In a Facebook post Wednesday, guitarist Billy Gibbons and drummer Frank Beard said Hill died in his sleep. That look, with all three members wearing dark sunglasses and Gibbons and Hill sporting long, wispy beards, became so familiar, in part thanks to their MTV videos in the 1980s, that it was the subject of a New Yorker cartoon and a joke on "The Simpsons.HOUSTON (AP) - ZZ Top’s Dusty Hill, the long-bearded bassist for the million-selling Texas blues rock trio known for such hits as “Legs” and “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” has died at age 72. When I first saw them, I thought, `I hope these guys are not on the run, because that disguise is not going to work."'
"These cats know their blues and they know how to dress it up. "These cats are steeped in the blues, so am I," Richards said. ZZ Top was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, introduced by Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. Their million-selling albums included "Eliminator," "Afterburner" and "Antenna." The band went on to have such hits as "Tush" in 1975, and the 1980s songs "Sharp Dressed Man," "Legs," "Gimme All Your Lovin"' and "Sleeping Bag." The band's 1976 "Worldwide Texas Tour," with its iconic Texas-shaped stage festooned with cactuses, snakes and longhorn cattle, was one of the decade's most successful rock tours. 'We are saddened by the news today that our Compadre. We are saddened by the news today that our compadre, Dusty Hill, has passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, Texas.
Three years later, they broke through commercially with "La Grange," a funky blues song in the style of Slim Harpo's "Shake Your Hips" that paid tribute to the Chicken Ranch, a notorious brothel outside of the Texas town of La Grange. (CNN) Dusty Hill, the bearded bassist with American blues-rock band ZZ Top, has died, according to the band's official website. Dusty Hill, the bassist for blues-rock trio ZZ Top, has died. Their debut release, "ZZ Top's First Album," came out in 1970.
They didn't give a cause of death, but a July 21 post on the band's website said Hill was "on a short detour back to Texas, to address a hip issue." At that time, the band said that its longtime guitar tech, Elwood Francis, would fill in on bass, slide guitar and harmonica.īorn Joe Michael Hill in Dallas, he, Gibbons and Beard formed ZZ Top in Houston in 1969, naming themselves in part after blues singer Z.Z. ZZ Top's Dusty Hill, the long-bearded bassist for the million-selling Texas blues rock trio known for such hits as "Legs" and "Gimme All Your Lovin'," has died at age 72.